The Adventures of Sherlena Holmes & Joanna Watson
by dontstopbelieving123
Summary: Just getting back from Afghanistan with her parents Joanna heads off to med school and shares a flat with consultant detective Sherlena Holmes. Genderswap fic, don't take to seriously just writing this for fun hope you all enjoy it.
1. Chapter 1

_All she could hear were loud noises. Everywhere she looked there were explosions. She saw people she had known and became friends with fall to the ground dead._

_"JO GET OUT" her dad shouted at her. She nodded her head and made a run for it while looking for her mom at the same time. Suddenly she felt something hit her and a large feeling of pain spread through out her body._

Joanna Watson woke up from her dream with a start. She looked around her room and saw she was back in her old room. Back in England and out of Afghanistan.

"Jo are you alright?" her mom asked peeping her head through the door.  
"Yeah" she quickly cleared her throat and changed her tone of voice.  
"Sorry it was just a dream" she informed her. Her mom gave her a worried look but then smiled at her as she shut the door. Joanna laid back down on her bed and let out a sigh as she looked up at the ceiling. Things had definitely changed after her father had left the military. That's what she was a military brat. Never staying in the same place long enough to make any good had been to so many places.

She could always remember her mom trying to talk her father out of doing another tour of duty so they could finally settle down but what else could she say besides the fact that her father was a patriotic man. Joanna getting shot during an attack on their camp had been what made him finally leave.

Things would be better now though. She was heading off to an actual proper Uni where she could learn to be a doctor.

* * *

"How's your blog coming along?" Joanna's therapist asked her. After getting shot her parents had decided to assign her to a therapist to help her get over the trauma of the incident. Joanna had protested but seeing as that made her parents only more insistent she decided to do it to make them feel not so worried about her. Her therapist was nice but not really understanding of what she actually felt. How could this lady know what it felt like to go through a terrorist attack?

_I bet you she's never been anywhere outside London_ Joanna thought to herself.

"Um it's good" Joanna lied as she brushed some hair off of her forehead. Her therapist had advised Joanna to make a blog to write all her feelings down in, but to be honest she had barely even wrote in it. In fact she didn't even remember her password.

"You haven't written a word have you?" her therapist replied in a snarky voice. Joanna looked at what her therapist was writing on her little notepad.

"You just wrote still has trust issues, sorry for being a disappointment" Joanna told her as she crossed her arms.  
"And you can read my handwriting upside down. What does that tell you?" her therapist smiled at her. She then cleared her throat.  
"Jo you've been through a lot and I get why you're always angry. It's going to be hard having to walk with a cane but trust me you'll learn to live with it and maybe someday you'll get past it" she tried to encourage Jo. The gunshot had cause Jo to have a psychosomatic disorder. Meaning that although she may have gotten shot in her shoulder the stress had caused her to have a sort of limp and she had to walk around with cane now like a pensioner.

"I think this blog will honestly help you cope" she continued.  
"Don't you understand nothing can help me" Joanna almost whispered to her.

* * *

_Dear Ms. Joanna Watson,_

_I am sorry to inform you that there is no more room in our school dormitories. You will be put on wait list and will be contacted as soon as possible if the opportunity arises. Again I give you my deepest apologies._

_Sincerely,_

_Dean Arthur Conan Doyle_

Joanna let out a groan when she finished reading the letter and plopped down on a wooden bench. Things had gone from good to bad ever since she got Reichenbach Medical University. At first things had been great as she said goodbye to her parents but when she got to her dorm room she found the letter she was now carrying in her hand. As if on cue her mother called her. Joanna didn't want to answer but then she remembered it was her mother and that if she missed one call from her she'd assume that she was dead. Joanna let out a sigh trying to perk herself up as she answered her second hand phone.

"Hello"  
"Are you settled yet?" her mom asked.

"Um yes my room's very open and airy" she lied looking at her surroundings.  
"So you have lots of windows then?"

"Oh yeah lots"

"Well that's good. I'm glad you're all settled your father and I miss you already"  
"No we don't" Joanna heard her dad joke in the background.

"Alright I guess I'll let you go then I'm sure you have some toga party to go to, bye" her mom then hung up. Joanna felt bad for lying but she didn't want to worry her mother, she had almost not let her go to school because she thought Joanna was still traumatized over what happened. If she found out that Joanna didn't have a place to say Joanna was positive that she would have a heart attack. Which meant that now she had to find a place to stay and quickly. Just then this girl passed by her, did a double take, and then turned around to look at her fully.

"Hi?" Joanna asked cautiously as she looked the girl up and down. The girl had dark brown hair, was a bit chubby, and wore glasses. She seemed somewhat familiar.

"Jo Watson?" she asked. Joanna still didn't recognize her.  
"Meg Stamford our dad's were stationed in Iraq once" that's what set off Jo's memory as she finally remembered the girl. She struggled to get up for a moment as she tried not to use her cane but ended up having to use it anyways. The two girls hugged each other and then looked at each other.  
"I know I got fat" Meg said.  
"No" Joanna lied.  
"I thought your family was in Afghanistan? What happened."

"Well…I got shot" she tried to say nonchalantly but Meg still got a worried look in her eye as she finally noticed what the cane was for.

"So wanna go get some coffee or a cuppa?" Meg asked.  
"Sure but my thing's are in the dormitory area and I should probably go get them and put them in your car or something" Joanna said.

"Did you leave them in one of the common rooms?" Meg asked as they started walking.  
"Yeah"  
"Oh don't worry then they'll be safe no one'll steal them" she waved it off. The two walked in silence for a moment.  
"So what are you doing here?" Meg asked.  
"I wanted to go to school here and be a doctor, except I don't know if I can stay here now if I don't have a place to live. I can barely pay the tuition alone and boarding here was supposed to be for free until I figured out there's no room in the dormitories" she explained.

"Maybe you can stay with Harry doesn't he live nearby?" Meg asked about Joanna's older brother.  
"Yeah like that's going to happen the minute he turned 18 he ran for it not to mention he has his problem"

"Maybe you can get a flat share or something?"

"Come on who would want to share a flat with me?" Meg laughed to herself for a moment.  
"What?"  
"It's funny you're the second person who's said that to me today"

"Who's the first?" Joanna asked very curious now.

* * *

Sherlena Holmes unzipped the body bag that was in the examining room that was used for dissections for anatomy class. She looked down at the corpse and sniffed the familiar smell of death.  
"So it's fresh then?" she asked turning her head towards Max Hooper, a boy that she liked to use at any moment's notice. It might've been rude that she used his crush on her as a way of getting what she wanted but she didn't care.

"Yeah just in, he's 67, died of natural causes. My mum knew him, he was nice" Max smiled at her. Sherlena let out a sigh.  
"Alright then we'll start with a riding crop" she said going over to her bag.  
"Why do you have a riding crop?" Max asked.  
"Why do you have a photo of me on your phone?" Max stuttered for a moment and Sherlena laughed at him. Oh how she had him wrapped around her finger.

"Mind leaving me to my work then?"  
"Sure I'll just be out here if you need me" he said as he slowly walked out. Sherlena looked at the corpse and started hitting it with riding crop. She was doing this for a case. She wanted to see how quickly bruises could form on a dead body to make the cause of death look like another way of how a person died. Also she was a bit PMSy and needed to take her aggression out on something. When she stopped abusing the corpse Max came back in looking almost terrified. Sherlena let out a sigh of relief as she took out her Iphone and typed some notes onto it.

"So bad day was it?" Max asked.  
"Let me know if bruises start forming in 20 minutes, a man's alibi depends on it" she tapped away at her phone not even paying attention to him.

"So listen, Sherly"  
"Do not call me Sherly. My sister call's me Sherly and I hate her" she said a bit threateningly moving her attention away from her phone for a millisecond. Max made a little back off motion.

"Anyways I was wondering maybe later when you're finished" Max started to say. Oh god he was trying to ask her out again. She looked at him and suddenly noticed his hair was done in a different fashion and oh god what was that smell? It definitely wasn't the corpse.

_Ralph Lauren's polo number 3_ she thought as she smelled his cologne from where she stood.

"Did you do your hair while I was busy in here?" Sherlena asked cutting him off and wondering what his excuse would be.

"I..I uh refreshed it a bit" he said as he stroked his fingers through his hair. Sherlena did a small smile to herself and tried to hold back a chuckle.

"Right so anyways you were saying?" she asked going back to her phone.  
"I was wondering if you'd like to have coffee?" Max finally asked.  
"Black, 2 sugars please. If you need me I'll be in the chem labs. LATERZ" Sherlena said as she answered a text from her acquaintance Meg about meeting some girl named Joanna. She hadleft Max alone in the examining room with the badly beaten up corpse.

"Ok" Max just said to her retreating back.

* * *

"Now listen when you first meet her she may be a bit odd at first but trust me she's a good friend. And I hope you don't mind but she already graduated Uni but she comes here often so it's technically like she's still a student here." Meg was telling Joanna as they headed towards the chem. labs to meet Joanna's new possible flat mate.  
"Alright" Joanna nodded her head nervously. It was strange Joanna had seen war and been through things much scarier than this but the thought of living with a complete stranger was starting to make her nervous. Meg opened the door, letting Joanna in first where she spotted a tall, pale, long black haired girl, with blue eyes. Joanna assumed that this was Sherlena Holmes. She noticed that Sherlena was working on some sort of chemical reaction, from the way she was gracefully putting chemicals together.

"Bit different than the labs I've seen before" Joanna said to herself as she remembered visiting the weaponry once in Afghanistan and she had seen them make some sort of chemical to lace the bullets with. She saw Sherlena check her Iphone.  
"Can I use your phone Meg? There's no signal on mine?" she asked.

"What's wrong with the landline?" Meg asked.  
"I prefer to text"  
"Sorry it's in my car"  
"You could use mine?" Joanna offered.

"Oh thank you" the girl took the offer sounding quite surprised.

"This is my friend Joanna Watson" Meg introduced her.

"So Afghanistan or Iraq?" Sherlena asked as she took Joanna's phone.  
"Sorry what?" Joanna asked.  
"Where was your dad stationed Afghanistan or Iraq?"

"Both but the most recent one was Afghanistan? How'd you know that?" Joanna asked. Just then the door opened and in came this guy holding a mug of coffee in his hand.

"Oh Max, coffee. Thank you" Sherlena thanked the guy as she took the coffee. She then got this confused look in her eye.

"What happened to your hair and the Polo number 3?" Sherlena asked him.  
"It wasn't working for me" Max said a bit disappointed.  
"Really I thought it was quite an improvement" Sherlena said out loud. Joanna saw her turn around and let out a small laugh to herself. This just made her even more nervous about possibley living with her.

"Ok" Max just answered to that leaving the room looking sad.

"How do you feel about the violin?" Sherlena asked. Joanna realized the question was for her and had to repeat it to herself in her mind to remember what she said but then she realized she had no clue what that question was supposed to mean.  
"What?" Joanna asked.  
"I play the violin when I'm thinking, and sometimes I don't talk for days on end. Would that bother you? Potential flatmates should know the worst about each other" Sherlena explained and then smiled at her.

_How'd she know that was why I was here?_ Joanna thought. She looked at Meg and Meg just gave her an excited smile.

"Did you tell her that's why I was here?" she asked Meg.  
"Not a word" Meg told the truth.

"So how'd you know?" Joanna asked Sherlena.  
"Well I told Meg I must be a difficult girl to find a flatmate for and now here she is just back from lunch with an old friend. Clearly back home with her family after her father finished his military service in Afghanistan. Wasn't that difficult to piece together" Sherlena answered as if it was nothing.

_Seriously how does she know all of this?_ Joanna wondered.

"How'd you know about Afghanistan?" Joanna asked.  
"I've already got a place in Central London but I need the money to pay for my first rent. Probably should'nt have tried to haggle for the price when I movedin but anyways I think together we can afford it. You can meet me there tonight at say 7 o'clock? Ooo I've gotta dash. I've got a case to head off too and I think I left my riding crop in the examining room. Have a nice day" Sherlena didn't answer her question.

"So is that it then?" Joanna asked.

"Is that what?" Sherlena asked back.

"We'd only just met and we're gonna share a flat now?"  
"Problem?"

"I don't know where we're going to meet. You haven't even introduced yourself. We don't know a thing about each other" Joanna stated the obvious. Sherlena smiled at her like she thought Joanna was a complete idiot and then proceeded to look her up and down. She then squinted her eyes a bit like she was reading a book very hard and then finally she answered her.

"I know you're a military brat and that you've been home for several weeks now. I know you've got a brother that you could easily go too for help but you won't because you don't approve of him possibly because he's an alcoholic. And I know your therapist thinks your limp is psychosomatic which is quite correct. I think that's enough to know about you don't you think?" she asked. Joanna stood there with her mouth wide open. Sherlena walked to do the door and paused for a moment.

"The names Sherlena Holmes and the address is 221B Baker Street" Sherlena said to her and then winked before leaving. Joanna turned to Meg.  
"Yeah that's the odd thing about her" Meg said as if that was completely normal.


	2. Chapter 2

Joanna had no choice then it was either go back home and get babied by her parents or share a flat with this stranger.  
"I think you two will get along well" Meg said as they loaded Joanna's stuff into a cab. Well mainly Meg did Joanna couldn't with her cane.

"So is she like that all the time or was she putting on a show or something?" Joanna asked.  
"Well I don't know her that well but I assume she's always like that" Meg answered.  
"And how do you know her?"  
"Well last year my brother got blamed for some sort of car graffiti incident and Sherlena got on the case and she solved it and also proved him innocent. And I meet her up for coffee every now and then. I get the feeling she needs a friend you know must be hard trying to find one with a mind like hers" The cabbie honked at them to speed up.  
"Hold on a moment" Meg snapped.  
"Here I'll just carry this box then I have to say I helped out in some way" Joanna said.  
"No it's fine you know I'm sure it's hard now for you..." Meg tried to avoid saying it.  
"Go on say it I'm a cripple"  
"Technically you're not though" The cabbie honked again.  
"OI I don't see what you're in a hurry for? I'm the one who's paying you. So shut your face or I'll call your bloody boss and the next thing you'll be driving is a bicycle you got that" Joanna threatened. She then packed away the last box into the trunk.  
"Well it's been fun Meg maybe I'll see you soon" Joanna promised as she hugged her.  
"Maybe Jo" Meg smiled at her as Joanna got in the car.

"221B baker street please" Joanna informed the cabbie.  
"Would you like the A/C blasting your majesty?" Joanna rolled her eyes at the man as she got her phone out of her pocket. She immediately went to sent messages and saw what Sherlena had sent on my phone.

"_If brother has green ladder arrest brother_

_-SH"_

So who exactly was she this Sherlena Holmes. Was she like some sort Nancy Drew character or like a superhero who didn't wear a mask? Joanna found it strange how she could read out her life story by just looking at her. About fifteen minutes later the cab stopped in front of this sandwich shop and right next to it was a door to a flat complex and standing right next to the door was Sherlena Holmes. Sherlena watched as Joanna got out of the car and noticed her go to the trunk where she tried to pull out a couple suitcases but it was going unsuccessfully.  
"Need help with that" Sherlena offered.  
"No I've got it" Joanna answered being stubborn as she got one of the suitcases out but nearly fell.  
"Come on speed it up" the cabbie shouted at them. Sherlena rolled her eyes at the man as she grabbed the remaining suitcases and put them out on the sidewalk.  
"Thanks" Joanna said unenthusiastically. She hated it when others did stuff for her it made her feel weak like she couldn't do anything anymore. It was like being a toddler again. Joanna walked up to the cabbie and paid him.  
"No tip" he complained.  
"Oh I think you have plenty enough for your cocaine" Sherlena said as she noticed the white smudges on his dark cardigan, how irritated his nose looked, and the large amount of money stashed in the glove box.  
"You do know that's illegal right. I'm sure detective inspector Lestrade, who I personally know by the way, would love to arrest another crack head" Sherlena threatened. The cabbie glared at her and tipped his hat at Joanna.  
"Have a nice day you two ladies" he said the gritted teeth.  
"Oh piss off" Sherlena said to him before he drove off. She turned around and looked at Joanna and saw the astounded look on her face and she just simply gave her a smile.

"So I see your going to take the flat share then"  
"Urm yeah I just really need a place to stay and I thought I could move in today if that's alright with you" Joanna almost stuttered. Being around Sherlena made her slightly nervous. She then took a survey of the area from the looks of it, it looked like you had to have enough money to go to Harvard without being on financial aid.  
"This is quite the place are you sure it's affordable?" she asked.  
"I know Mr. Hudson, the landlord, gave me a special deal and he owes me a favor. His wife got sentenced to death in Florida" Sherlena told her.

"So you stopped his wife from being executed?"  
"Oh no I ensured it" Sherlena smirked to herself. Just then the door opened to reveal this very sweet looking old man.  
"Sherlena look at you beautiful as ever" he complimented as he hugged.

"Good evening Mr. Hudson this my new flatmate I was talking to you about earlier, Joanna Watson" Sherlena nodded her head at her.

"Oh hello, darling come on in" he invited her in.

_Hang on earlier_ Joanna suddenly realized.  
"You already knew I was gonna be your flatmate?" she asked Sherlena as they walked up the stairs.  
"Oh please the moment I saw you I knew you would be the person" Sherlena said. Joanna didn't know if that was supposed to be taken as a compliment or not. When the finally got to the room Joanna say the place had a nice layout. The living room was huge and a bit dirty, there was a nice kitchen with some sort of chemistry set on the table, and two the right was a hallway that led to some bedrooms.

"So what do you think?" Sherlena asked.  
"It's nice could use some cleaning up" Joanna suggested. She hadn't always been a neat freak but this was out of control.

"Oh well I could clean it up later I guess if you have a problem with it"

"You have a skull on your mantle" Joanna said randomly as she looked at the fireplace where a very real looking human skull was looking at her.  
"Friend of mine, well I say friend" Sherlena shrugged.  
"Sherlena look at the mess you've made" Mr. Hudson commented when he stepped into the kitchen. Joanna plopped down in a little arm chair and relaxed for a moment. Sherlena was over by the table looking at the newspaper. Joanna could slightly read on the front page that it said something about three serial suicides.  
"You looking into the those suicides by any chance Sherlena, there's been three already" Mr. Hudson asked.

"Four, there's been a fourth and something different this time" Sherlena corrected her as she looked out the window. Joanna raised her eyebrow at the comment could now hear approaching footsteps and in the door appeared this tall woman, with graying hair slicked back in a professional ponytail. Joanna noticed from the way Sherlena and the woman looked at each other that they knew each other.

"Where is it?" Sherlena asked.  
"It's on your turf actually Reichenbach Medical University" the woman answered. Joanna was listening intently now to the conversation.

"What's different about this one? You wouldn't have come to get me if it was something different"

"I'm not that dependent on you" the woman crossed her arms. Sherlena gave her a look and the woman smiled at her. They were sort of interacting like Mother and daughter but there was clearly no relation between them at all.  
"You know how they never leave notes?" the woman asked. Sherlena nodded.  
"This one dude. Will you come?"

"Who's on forensics?"  
"Anderson"  
"Uck I hate Anderson I can't work with her she's such a dinosaur"  
"Well she won't be your assistant, sweetheart"  
"I need one though"

"Will you come?"  
"Not in a police car I'll be right behind you" Sherlena answered. The woman turned towards Joanna and Mr. Hudson and told her goodbye. How was that in the span of two minutes Joanna's curiosity towards who Sherlena exactly was had grown to the size of mount Vernon. Once the woman had left the room Sherlena unexpectedly started jumping up and down clapping her hands together very quickly, almost looking like a normal twenty year old girl.  
"BRILLIANT. AHHHH FOUR SERIAL SUICIDES AND NOW A NOTE. AHHH IT'S LIKE CHRISTMAS" Sherlena celebrated. Joanna looked at her strangely this wasn't the thing most people usually celebrated over.  
"Mr. Hudson I'll be back I might need some food when I return" Sherlena asked of the woman.  
"I'm your landlord not your housekeeper Sherlena"  
"Tea and biscuits will be fine, Joanna the remotes on the coffee table entertain yourself" Sherlena advised as she ran out. Joanna felt disappointed now. She really wanted to go with Sherlena the thought of going to a crime scene sounded almost exciting. If Sherlena got a kick out of it that means there had to be something good about this crime scene.

"Look at her dashing about. My wife was just like that, but you look like more of the sitting down type which is good. I'll make you a cuppa why don't you sit down and rest your leg" Mr. Hudson tried to talk to Joanna.  
"DAMN MY LEG" Joanna cursed feeling angry of having to stay behind because of her stupid leg. Mr. Hudson looked at her completely shocked.  
"Sorry I am so sorry it's just my leg" she tried to apologize.  
"It's alright I've got a bad hip"  
"Sorry that cuppa sounds wonderful thank you"  
"All right just this once I'm not your housekeeper"  
"And some cookies could do too if you could make any"  
"Not your housekeeper" her reminded her. Joanna looked at the newspaper Sherlena had been looking at and saw a picture of the woman who had just been in there flat. Apparently the woman was Detective Inspector Lestrade, the woman Sherlena had threatened to call earlier. Suddenly Joanna noticed that Sherlena was back in the doorway looking at her.  
"You're a med student" Sherlena said to her as if she just realized this.  
"Yes" Joanna answered.

"Any good?"  
"I guess I just started"

"From being with your dad in the military you've seen a lot of blood and action right?"

"Yeah"  
"Wanna see some more?"  
"Oh god yes" Joanna smiled at her.

"Sorry Mr. Hudson I'm going with Sherlena" Joanna apologized.  
"Really the both of you are leaving?" he asked.

"Undecipherable suicides, four of them. There's no point in just sitting here when there's finally something fun to do" Sherlena explained.  
"Oh look at the two of you. You really need boyfriends" Joanna laughed at that.

"Boyfriends I have no need for boyfriends when the game is on" Sherlena told her as her and Joanna walked out the door.


End file.
